


For Another

by KyDesert



Series: Hush [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied Character Death, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Survivors Guilt, Verbal Link, graphic depictions of injuries, sidlink - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-24 00:38:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12001281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyDesert/pseuds/KyDesert
Summary: While Link mourns for the memories he will never regain, Sidon yearns for Link to see the happiness he'd lost while blazing the path of a hero.Whether it be in the roaring fires of the heat of battle, or long slumbers, softer than the omnipresent rain...Sidon knows that Link will not be alone when he enters that castle. He will not be alone when he faces the Calamity.





	For Another

Of course, the famed Zora Prince Sidon, beloved to all Zoras and a proud Zora warrior, would know next to none of the town rumors if not for the fact that the innkeeper’s wife possessed a voice with the ability to carry nicely to his preferred place in front of the throne room, watching out over the domain.

Yes, admittedly, eavesdropping is wrong. But on quiet days and nights, sometimes Sidon could not resist the temptation of listening out for the nearest voices. And consequently gaining information that may or may not be true. But he was most definitely not listening out for gossip, Goddesses forbid.

His golden eyes saw all, staring out into the distance (even in the rain) and watching the intricate workings of life in the square below him. And while the Calamity was still engulfing Hyrule Castle, the Divine Beast Vah Ruta was calm and working for the good of Hyrule. Sidon took the appearance of many Hylian scientists as a good sign when they’d begun to make the trek to Zora’s domain to see the most accessible of the Divine Beasts.

And he was always more than willing to show them the Hylian Champion’s accomplishment. He was not always willing to approach the single structure that held most, if not all, of his recent traumatic memories.

Nevertheless… Sidon was grateful for the beautiful Domain, tourists and residents alike. He was grateful for the newfound quiet brought in the wake of Vah Ruta’s Peace, and he was ever grateful for the Hylian Champion’s help in bringing peace to the Domain… and subsequently, all of Hyrule. Eventually.

When Sidon was otherwise distracted with his princely duties, he listened out for Kodah’s shrill voice to alert him of any events that may require his attention, as she was often a better indicator than the guards themselves.

And Sidon tried his best to pretend that he wasn’t waiting day in and day out for one, very specific piece of information to drift to him by word of mouth. The Hylian Champion would return, Sidon knew, when he’d brought peace to Hyrule.

Link would return.

So, to distract himself from his own thoughts, Sidon let himself be consumed by his princely duties, swamping himself in working towards bettering the lives of every citizen of the Domain and fulfilling his duties as both a prince and a warrior.  

His princely duties in the present, however, consisted of loud exclamations of… discontent. Sidon asked the Goddesses: How was he to better the lives of the citizens if his own soldiers were missing from right under his own nose?!

His father watched him ramble with his ever-present impassive expression, and somewhere in the back of Sidon’s mind, he’d wondered how all of this had been slipped past him. It must have taken an amazing feat of coordination. Organization. Perhaps plenty of stealth potions. Maybe they’d had lunch together, eating whatever stealthy concoction they could cook up before banding together to sneak past his hyper vigilant eye.

His father had called for the best Zora warriors to eradicate the lynel, the group of _Sidon’s warriors_ led by none other than Link the Hylian Champion, and he was never told. Or invited to go. Or watch.

“It was for a training exercise,” his father had told him, but he refused to believe that such a difficult task would be used as a training exercise. “I thought it was about time that we learn to effectively evade shock arrows.” Sidon stared at him, unimpressed.

“Is it not important for me to learn as well?” Sidon wasn’t watching his father when he sneered, but he could _feel_ the exasperation emanating from the large king in waves. “I am the leader of our warriors. We would all benefit from—“

“Link told me himself that he’s killed dozens of lynels before. If anything were to go wrong, the last thing the group needs is for you to overreact.”

Sidon spun quickly, his various sashes and jewelry following him loudly as he turned. “Overreact?!” His booming voice carried throughout the throne room and no doubt into the forum of the domain as well.  “Are you saying that I was left out of the exercise because I am prone to overreactions and that I would endanger the group?! That is outrageous!”

Dorephan watched him for a long moment. “My son, you are overreacting at the very news—“

 “What?!”

They continued  back and forth, parrying their irritation until Sidon was certain he wouldn’t gain any ground with his father and Dorephan was certain Sidon would stop trying to.

Sidon fumed silently in front of the throne room for a second, before descending to make a lap around the domain, greeting the children as he passed and entertaining them while they told him about their day.

And silently brooding about the missed opportunity he’d had and the fact that he’d not heard any news of Link’s return.

But, with the stream of citizens through the forum and the endless pleasantries that followed each person, Sidon nearly forgot about all of his worries.

A Zora approached him and placed a blue hand on his shoulder, gathering his attention away from the ambient roar of the domain’s falls.

“Doing well, Your Highness?” Bazz asked, and Sidon spun, grinning widely at the captain. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I am well, Bazz,” Sidon said, waving bye as the tiny children ran off in the square. “You stayed away from the lynel training exercise?”

“It would take a very brave soldier to go on that expedition,” Bazz answered shortly, and when Sidon raised a brow Bazz elaborated. “Your Hylian friend is terrifyingly courageous. I heard that Dunma watched him tumble down a cliff—“

“I did!” Dunma chimed from her guard position.

“—and he got back up and kept fighting! Like nothing happened!”

“That’s not all!” Rivan added, peeking his head around the corner to look at the two of them. “He was on fire!”

“ _What?!”_

“Tell me, Prince Sidon, how have you not heard of the Hylian’s exploits?”

Sidon wanted desperately to regard these stories as tales. He couldn’t, _wouldn’t,_ see Link as so reckless, so careless with his life. The Hyilan didn’t have scales! How did he survive a fall from a cliff? He was so small!

“One time, while I was watching from one of the southern towers, I watched him take on an entire camp of moblins,” Bazz explained, and Dunma and Rivan turned around fully to listen. Sidon watched him with shocked and wary eyes.

“He runs straight into the camp and he blows himself up by standing too close to their explosives! I was ready to run to his aid, he looked to be in distress, but he stood up, steadied his sword, and cleared the camp!”

“Is that why you didn’t go with the others to Ploymous Mountain?” Dunma asked Bazz, and he nodded vigorously.

“I fear he would forget that the rest of us are not fireproof.” Rivan and Dunma nodded in agreement while Bazz continued. “ _He_ may be able to survive a few hits from a lynel, but the rest of us…”

“I watched him jump in the water with an electric lizalfos!” Kodah said suddenly, and Sidon spun around to see the pink Zora approaching them from the Seabed Inn’s entrance. “His quiver was empty, and he’d thrown his sword at the creature. I guess he needed to retrieve it, but the creature wasn’t dead!”

“What _happened?”_ Sidon hissed, and Kodah stared up at him with wide eyes.

“He grabbed his sword, dodged the creature, and killed it from a rock in the middle of the river! And then he grabbed the fish that the electricity killed and went on his way!”

“But if anyone were to end the Calamity, it would be Master Link.” Dunma said quietly, and the four Zoras around Sidon nodded their heads in agreement. “I can’t believe that you did not know this about Master Link, Prince Sidon.”

Sidon blinked for a moment, trying to translate his feelings into words for the Zoras surrounding him. “It frightens me to know that he acts with such reckless abandon—“

“Oh, but he’s a great warrior,” Bazz interrupted, and the other three nodded in agreement once again. “Arguably one of the best I’ve ever seen. He works with a very trained hand. I have no doubt that he would be able to fend off the lynel if the situation arose.”

Sidon thought about the conversation for the rest of the evening, watching the East Gate anxiously for any sign of Link and the Zora warriors he’d taken with him and trying to pinpoint the exact source of his anxiety.

The domain grew quiet, the children running to their sleeping pools and the visitors settling in the inn for the night, and Sidon set to watching the sunset as it melted across the sky. On one side of the sky, fire blazed its way into soft darkness, stretching far across the horizon.

Also in the horizon: a group of towering Zoras led by a not so towering Hylian dressed in… was that a lynel costume? Sidon shook his head as if it would clear his vision. Yep. Link was definitely wearing some sort of lynel costume.

As they drew nearer, Sidon could practically _feel_ the excitement rolling from the group in waves, and he extended his arms in a warm welcome… only for most of the group to barely return his greeting.

“Hi, Sidon,” Link said in his quiet voice, his eyes barely visible under the horns of his lynel hat. Sidon opened his mouth to respond—

“The Champion just killed the lynel!” One of the Zoras nearby yelled in excitement.

Sidon’s wide eyes shot back to Link, who had removed the funny helmet and was cradling it in one arm. He gave the Zora a tight smile in return.

“The most exciting battle I’ve seen yet!” Another Zora exclaimed as they all entered the domain, leaving Sidon and Link standing alone on the bridge to the domain.

“I was trying to example proper battling range, but the lynel became too aggressive. Started charging the spectators instead of me.”

Sidon stared for a moment, trying to process the sheer… “Explain.”

“Well,” Link sighed, starting towards the Seabed Inn. “The main complaint about the lynel is the shock arrows. It won’t use them if you’re close enough. I was teaching them.”

“And… the hat?”

“It was _supposed_ to trick it.” Link was not a man of many words. Truthfully, this was the first time Sidon heard Link engage in a full conversation.

Sidon looked between the mask (it had buttons for eyes!) and Link, nodding slowly. “Alright.”

Together they watched as the rest of the Zoras from the expedition scattered, their excitement slowly waning. Sidon felt a great weight lift from his chest, like he’d been holding his breath and was finally allowed to breathe. The Hylian beside him was… he was a different kind of courageous. He was selfless to the point of reckless, he possessed every kind of bravery with very little caution.

The truth was… Sidon loved everything about him, from the blond hair that tumbled to the tops of Link’s shoulders to the delicate curve of his eyelashes, Sidon loved him. And he would readily admit it, to himself, possibly to anyone who might find themselves asking.

But Sidon would never, _never_ admit that to Link. He would not go down that hole, he would not pull on that thread, he wouldn’t even entertain the option.

He would not give his heart to a hero, a Champion, after he’d already felt the stifling pain of worry, then loss, then grief for another Champion long dead, long gone. Link, like Sidon’s sister, was in the most dangerous line of work in Hyrule. Killing a lynel, boarding a rampaging Divine Beast, jumping from towers and storming enemy camps came with Link’s lifestyle.

And Link was made for the life of a hero.

Sidon knew that the weight of another lost loved one would not do his soul any good, and another hundred years would do nothing to erase the pain of his loss.

But beyond that, Sidon knew that the life of a hero was not a life to envy or tamper with. Link needed no distractions on his journey, not those beyond the ones he allowed himself. Teaching Zoras to fight lynels would save him time in the future, and then he would move on to assist the various other settlements in Hyrule, slowly piecing together the kingdom, singlehandedly saving the fate of the country.

He would not distract Link with his tiny mentions of romance, whims which could not be fulfilled, and for the sake of Link’s own conscience, Sidon would not put his feeling on Link’s long list of things he would need to save.

~X~

It was months before Sidon saw Link again, but when they reunited it was a strange occasion. It had been raining nonstop for nearly a week, and while the rain wasn’t detrimental to anyone right now, anyone older than a new hatchling remembered the very recent time when the rain was never ending.

Needless to say, the entirety of the Domain was in a sour mood.

Save for Link, apparently.

He’d entered the Domain on horseback, which confused every single Zora and Hylian merchant around (according to everyone Sidon had talked to, it was impossible for get a horse onto the path to the Domain. Merchants usually left their carts at the bottom of the mountain and carried their wares in large backpacks) and parked his dark gray steed directly in front of the Seabed Inn, startling everyone in the immediate area. He grinned as small children arrived and left them with apples he kept in its saddle bags.

“It’s nice to see you again, dear friend,” Sidon greeted when Link finally approached him, and through the rain Sidon could see Link’s bright grin in response. “What good news have you brought from your travels?”

Link walked to the nearby railing, hopping up and balancing until he was nearly face to face with Sidon. The sight brought another smile to Sidon’s face. The four Divine Beasts targeting Hyrule Castle in an unrelenting attack had not escaped his notice, but he’d rather hear of Link’s success from the man himself.

Link’s voice was quieter than the din of the Domain, but it was of a new and different quality, and Sidon listened closely to the near silent formation of each of Link’s words, listening to the way the round Hylian vowels rolled from his tongue and watching the way his mouth formed the words before letting them leave his mouth.

Sidon hung onto every word, listening to Link’s watered down tales about his battles (he made a mental note to tell Link to not spare any detail) and still managed to let his eyes memorize every curve of Link’s face, every scar, new and old, that adorned him.

He was content to let Link’s enthusiastic voice lull him into bliss when—

 _“Thunderblight,_ you say?”

“Yeah,” Link said, blinking at him. “I got struck once… or twice. Don’t really remember.”

The idea of lightning resistance was something that still alluded Sidon, even though he _knew_ that every other race in Hyrule was infinitely more shock resistant than the Zora… it had to be impossible for a single Hylian to survive two direct lightening strikes.

And when Sidon looked closely, he could trace spiderweb scars running down Link’s neck, quickly, before disappearing into the side of his loose shirt.

Link could see him staring. A small hand rose to tug the shirt tighter to his body. The ghost of those scars still lingered in Sidon’s sight.

“Tell me again, about the Gerudo? And the Rito? I can’t say I’ve had much interaction with either race.”

Link launched back into his story, though his fingers wandered to the collar of his shirt intermittently, pulling his shirt up to cover scars already out of sight. Sidon listened to Link’s travels, temporarily caught in the sheer… romance of the life of a wanderer.

He could see Rito Village, seated high, winding around a great structure as Vah Medoh sailed above, its ominous shadow spread far across the land as it blotted out the sun… or the bustling life in Gerudo City, crowded with tall, powerful, and intelligent women, their own Divine Beast falling gracefully to take aim at the Calamity.

And Sidon could imagine more than that. There were many corners of Hyrule he’d never get to see. He’d never feel the cold burn of the Gerudo Highlands on his skin (though this was probably for the best?), or gaze out over Akkala from atop the famed Citadel. There was no doubt that they, all this time later, were now ruins, yet Link had climbed to the top and gazed upon them with new eyes ignorant to its former glory.

While Sidon listened to tales of sweaty Goron armor to thin desert fabrics that were surprisingly comfortable, he tried his best not to let his love show as blatantly as he felt it in his heart.

Link’s hand ghosted gently across Sidon’s cheek, and he looked at Link in surprise. The Hylian was barely managing to dry off from his place, but Sidon stood in the cold rain, ignoring the temperature and opting to focus on how the water felt on his body.

“It’s getting late,” Link said to him quietly, and his smooth hand moved to return to Sidon’s face before it stopped, and returned to its place on the railing.

Link was striking in the dark rain, the luminous stones of the Domain casting dark blue shadows across the warrior’s face, the bright stone above leaving his eyelash shadows along his cheeks.

“That, it is,” Sidon replied quietly, letting his gaze slide away and towards the view behind them. “Will you be staying in the Inn?”

“That was the plan,” Link replied quietly, swinging his legs as he prepared to jump from his precarious perch. Sidon knew that the moment he jumped, the rain would soak him. He held out a clawed hand to stop him.

“Will you allow me to offer an alternative?”

Link’s blue eyes shot up in the darkness, something deep in them that Sidon wished he could understand. Link’s eyebrows rose as a response, and Sidon tried to keep his expression in control. “You see, my quarters were built for someone who… enjoys having excess space. And while _I_ may take up excess space—“ Link chuckled—“I, personally, have no idea what one could do with all of that room! Which is why I invite you to stay with me.”

There was a beat of silence between them, just long enough for Sidon to begin to regret his offer. He worked, quickly, in his mind, the many ways he could go about going back on his offer…

But then Link smiled that radiant smile, and settled Sidon’s aching heart just enough to allow him to smile back.

Link hopped down from his perch and into the rain, and together they walked quickly through the rain towards Sidon’s quarters, and Link’s eyes were in the forefront of Sidon’s mind.

They were… flat. Even as his face changed and contorted throughout his story, following the usual flow of emotions as he detailed his travels for Sidon, drawing the tall Zora in with images of Hyrule that Sidon, in all his years, could only hope he’d see firsthand but…

Link’s eyes were flat.

They were flatter than the last few times he’d seen Link, and he took the quiet time they spent in his quarters, preparing for another inhabitant, to think about Link’s eyes and what they meant, not just about how they captivated him.

When he’d killed the lynel, Link’s eyes were full of sparkling pride and hope, under the exhaustion of battle. He’d helped people, he’d seen an immediate result to his actions, and Sidon could only imagine that this was much more satisfying than solving shrine after shrine…

But throughout his tales, Sidon saw that Link’s eyes dulled more and more as he relived his adventures… and by what he’d heard, Sidon knew that no inhabitant of Hyrule, no goddess born creature could survive the things Link had without scars far larger and far scarier than the quickly fading lightning webs along Link’s skin.

There was something behind those big blues that spoke of more than the view from tall mountains and green pastures full of wild deer and wild horses.

“Here we are,” Sidon said to Link as they finally gathered enough supplies to furnish the bed in Sidon’s guest room. It was there in case of an injury that would prevent him from using a sleeping pool, and the two of them set to work making the bed comfortable for the tiny Hylian.

Then, it was finished, and before Sidon could turn to leave, Link pulled his tunic up and over his head in one swift motion.

There was something behind those big blues that spoke of debilitating burns and fleeing from dangerous foes, stumbling away in terror with a broken leg and a blind eye. They spoke of hiding in a cave, the skin of his back burning away against the hot stones, mouth stuffed quiet with a fist, eyes burning with heat and fear.

They whispered of the red-hot rage of fighting over a fallen steed, driven by loneliness, a need to avenge the companionship stolen from him.

Link was different… and like the still air his mind sat perched someplace high above, blue eyes scanning the horizon desperately, watching the malice burn through the walls of Hyrule Castle while he sat, inactive, his own personal Calamity consuming him down to his core.

_No one was made for the life of a hero._

No amount of beauty could take away from what Link had seen. Not the quiet wind one could feel from the edge of Shatterback Point, not the caw of gull over Lurelin harbor, not the way flowers seemed to bloom from the ground even in the scalding heat of the desert.

“I know,” Link said quietly from his place across the room, eyes downturned as he felt Sidon’s never ending stare. “I promised I’d return to you. And I didn’t, not really.”

Sidon couldn’t find words. He searched through every possible option, and his voice came up silent, his mind still spinning from the story the scars on Link’s body told. He’d known the life of a hero was difficult, but his imagination couldn’t stop running. Running away from him and up and down each careful line drawn on Link’s skin.

“There’s a piece of me left behind in every battle,” Link said quietly, and Sidon’s eyes couldn’t leave a particular scar right above Link’s left hip… it was a hole, like someone cut a piece right out of the hero. There were no jagged edges… just… the remnants of a swift entry and exit of a large spear. This scar spoke of a fatal wound. “I didn’t want you to know, at first.”

Quickly, Sidon tore his eyes away. “There is nothing you have to hide from me, Link,” he said breathily, and Link glanced up from the floor, quickly, and returned his eyes to the polished stone surface.

“I’m not sure you would believe me, if you want me to be honest,” Link responded. “But I can’t tell you this, regardless.”

Sidon took a wavering step forward, his eyes trained on Link’s. His golden eyes saw all.

“The life of a hero is a difficult one, one I could not imagine. But… instead of telling me, Link, perhaps you could show me.”

~X~

“Father,” Sidon found himself calling to the throne room, and he listened intently for a response from Dorephan.

“You may enter, my son,” Dorephan replied quietly, his voice a whispy echo on the smooth stone, and Sidon entered quietly.

“Link is—“

“Yes, Sidon, the whole Domain knows that you are harboring the Hylian Champion.” Dorephan sounded… amused? And stressed. There was a strange mixture of both, and Sidon wasn’t sure what to make of it.

He narrowed his eyes at his father before responding. “Harboring makes it sound like… he’s a criminal.”

“I’m aware,” Dorephan responded, sounding exhausted. “The council is still trying to argue that he has no business using the Domain as a place to stay, and—“

“But he saved us all!”

“I am aware,” Dorephan leaned even further back on his giant throne. “But there are some who still argue that because of his people, the Princess and her… ward, the effects of the Calamity would have never reached this far. They argue that we should have decided what do with Vah Ruta, and left the Hylians out of this,” Dorephan heaved a sigh that seemed to shake the entire room. “And it is better late, than never.”

“Father, even if the effects had never reached us, even if we had kept the discovery of our Divine Beast to ourselves… it doesn’t mean that the Calamity would have never happened. And Link would have had less reason to come and help us, if we’d never extended a hand to help him and his people.”

“I should have let you attend the meeting, son,” Dorephan gave a breathy, humorless laugh, and Sidon tried to find irritation to spare for the council hidden in the deep emotional exhaustion that had spread through his whole body.

“I doubt I would have been of much service,” Sidon replied, moving to take a seat in the middle of the room, short legs folded beneath him. Dorephan raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing, listening to Sidon as he prepared to speak again. “I… I’ve made a decision. I would like to further my experience as a warrior—“

“The life of a hero is a lonely one, Sidon.” Dorephan’s voice echoed with that continued fatigue, and Sidon stopped to look up at his father with wide, questioning eyes.

The room was silent, save for the roaring water all around them, roaring almost louder than Sidon’s heart in his ears.

“The life of a hero is a lonely one, and Link knows that better than anyone in all of Hyrule. I know that you want nothing more than to respect Link, nothing more than to relieve some of the burden from his shoulders…

But, Sidon, in the end… Link is going to walk into that castle alone. He will fight the Calamity alone, he will either save Hyrule or Hyrule will fall to ruins, but every choice he makes is his alone. He will stand before the Goddesses alone, he will feel the weight of loss alone, he will watch the legacy of his allies, his friends, he will see their demise, and he will suffer through his fate alone.

And Sidon, I wish none of the pain on you. You can try to take on a fraction of what he feels, but you will never be able to save him from that Goddess drawn fate.”

Sidon… felt something rise in him. Disappointment, anger? Fear… helplessness but definitely disappointment, and something like defiance rose up in Sidon’s golden eyes, backed by something like the blind fury he’d seen in the scars on Link’s body.

“Of everything in this world, father, of everything that needs saving…” Sidon couldn’t find words in the sea of annoyance swimming in his body. He felt so many emotions churning in his gut that he felt… sick. It changed him as he stood, stalking towards his father as if he had any chance of staring him in the eye. “No person, no single person should have to carry the burden of the world on his shoulders alone. And if it means being crushed under the weight of the world with him, I would do it in a heartbeat. I would let the world fall down on me, and I would hope to the Goddesses that the weight would land on me, if only to spare him a little bit of pain,

He’s saved all of us, he’s done more for any of us that we’ve done for anyone—father the man looks like he’s been through hell! He puts his whole life into the fate of Hyrule and he still has to fight for the right to stay in the Domain? There are still arguments about this, father listen to me, he’s given his life to the fate of this country and we should do no less than the same.”

Sidon’s chest was heaving with everything he felt, but he wasn’t going to stop, even as he felt his voice grow louder and louder, until he was sure the whole Domain could hear him. And let them hear him, let them know exactly how he felt about the idea of a _Goddess drawn fate._

“Whatever I can do to be of service to him… to Link, to Hyrule, to the legacy of the Champions, to _Mipha,_ I will do it without a heartbeat and I will not let self-importance and _arrogance_ tell me that I can allow someone to give away his whole life for mine because of _fate! He will not be alone when he enters that castle. He will not be alone when he faces the Calamity._ ”

 Dorephan was entirely still, eyes watching as Sidon glared up at him, face absolutely _furious_. He’d never see his son this angry… but he’d seen the same defiant stare on another face, the face of a girl who knew she was more than capable of leaving her print on the world.

“Sidon,” Dorephan replied, and he nearly laughed at the angered growl he received in response. “Link is a reckless man, and his courage extends beyond every hint of reason,” Sidon growled again, opening his mouth to respond, but Dorephan held a hand up to stop him. “I, too, have heard the stories of his valor. But Sidon, sometimes valor is caution. However, I have a feeling that you and Link were built from the same bright stones. And I will not stop you when you decide to accompany him. Show the enemy no fear, Sidon.”

Sidon’s eyes sunk from their single minded fury into something surprised and determined, and Dorephan felt the same prideful mourning he’d felt when he’d sent Mipha off into the mess of Hyrule, to protect people with her gift.

And while Sidon did not have the gift of healing, could not soar high above the clouds or protect himself from any blow… Sidon had the gift of compassion that would either save Hyrule, or destroy him. His love was so big, it would overtake him, and it was ultimately up to Sidon how he would use it.

“Go, my son, and bring peace to Hyrule.”

~X~

Of course, the famed Zora Prince Sidon, beloved to all Zoras and a proud Zora warrior, would know next to none of the town rumors if not for the fact that the innkeeper’s wife possessed a voice with the ability to carry nicely to his preferred place in front of the throne room, watching out over the domain.

The rumors now were of him and the Champion. The people mourned of his leaving, the people scorned his decisions.

Was a Prince to defend his people? Or was a Prince to defend all people?

Those who’d seen Link in the heat of battle either supported Sidon and celebrated his eventual victory… or they began to mourn for the Zora Prince.

But the consensus was that Link was exceptional, whether that was good or bad, and that Sidon would stand in the shadow of the battle when it came.

And Sidon was alright with that, so long as he could take some of the burden from Link and place it on his own soul, on his own pristine back and scar-free scales. Because right now, the enemy was Sidon’s own heart, and while he would never ask Link to give him a piece of his already worn soul… he would try his best to preserve what was left of it.

He would show every enemy no fear.

**Author's Note:**

> So… everyone already knows that I can’t control myself. I wanted this story to be cute, I really did, but I started getting into it and it gets serious really fast… but if I would’ve kept it light I wouldn’t have come up with a plot so yay more multichapter fics!
> 
> This story is related to "In Search Of", and I do a lot of biting from that story. I will go back and revise it, since I wrote the entire thing in like five minutes, but it's just a heads up that there are some themes that carry over from that oneshot into this story. 
> 
> Anyway, tell me what you think and hit me up on [tumblr](https://kydesert.tumblr.com/)


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